Letter from Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to the Bishop of St Asaph, 16 March 1571

Description

This is a letter sent from Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to the Bishop of St Asaph and others, urging them to build a new town hall in Denbigh, 16 March 1571.
The letter reads as follows:

'A Lettre from ye Earle of Leycester to ye Bishop of Saint Asaph, and Jon Salusbury, Ellis Price, and the rest of ye Iustices of ye County of Denbigh recommendinge it to them to levey monie towardes building a new Shire Hall in Denbigh -

Wth my right hartie commendatons. Whereby commission from the Council of the Marches, order was directed unto youe for the ceassing and leavinge of certayne sommes of monie towardes the buylding of a new Shire hall wthin the Towne of Denbighe, wherein the Officers and inhabitants of the said Towne are greatlie desyrous to procede wth some expedition, in respect yt is a thinge so nedefull vnto them, as also expedient and necessarie for all the inhabitants of that whole Countie. I have thought good by these fewe [lines omitted] to commende unto your carefull travayle the furtherance of this their good intentions, which for mine owne parte, I have so greate lyking that towarde the same, I have freelie bestowed vppon them suche a plott of grounde wthin the Towne for the said hall to be erected on, as by mine officers theare, wth consente of the inhabitants, shall be found most mete and convenient for that purpose. I do therefore in lyke mannr hartlie pray youe, on whom the despatch does chieflie depende, that leavying of this said monie, youe will give them spedieset furtherance you maie. And so I bid youe right hartlie farewell. From the Courte the XVith of March, 1571.
Yo vearie frend
R. Leycester.'

Source: John Williams, Ancient and Modern Denbigh: A Descriptive History of the Castle, Borough and Liberties (Denbigh, 1856), pp. 97-8.